Question Home

Position:Home>Poetry> How does the structure/punctuation of the poem "Death, be not proud" c


Question: How does the structure/punctuation of the poem "Death, be not proud" contribute to the overall meaning!?
I am doing a presentation on this poem, and thus need to know everything possible about it!. The overall meaning is obviously that death is nothing to be afraid of, it's insignificant!. How does the structure (Elizabethan sonnet) and punctuation (caesura, commas, semi-colons, etc!.) contribute to this meaning!?

The poem is by John Donne!.

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me!.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure--then, from thee much more must flow;
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery!.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better then thy stroke!. Why swell'st thou then!?
One short sleep passed, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die!.Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
I have a problem with questions such as this (the one you have been asked, not the one you are asking!) in that you are asked to comment on the use of punctuation in a piece dating from a time when punctuation as such was not as formalised as it is today!. The rulles were still being formed in effect and most writers then were prone to massive use of commas and colons to an extent that would be slashed and burned by any modern editor!.

The archaic forms also lend themselves to frenetic punctuation (a la Victor Borge!) and often make reading thes poems a chore rather than a pleasure!.

I find this poem to be rather hard work and would actually want to re-write it for clarity - how arrogant is that!?

The structure, I believe, does not actually contribute to it's meaning - it could have been in any form and still got the message across!. The form, in my humble opinion, is simply that chosen by the poet at the time as being as good as any other!. ( Now you see why I had so manyarguments with my English masters at school!)

The punctuation is there to provide the pauses that the poet would have adopted when reading it aloud, nothing more!. I believe we are often guilty of over-analysing written work to the point of imbuing meanings and allusions never even considered by the original authors!. I have seen this here on YA! even with things I have written and been amazed at the interpretations inferred by readers!. If it happens to me, a cheerful amateur, think of the scope for it in something that has been around for a century or two and been pulled apart by thousands of students and professors trying to write a dissertation on the English language and it's usage!

Sorry if I haven't helped a great deal but good luck anyway!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

research why we use comma's, semicolon's etc!. in the first place!. why do we put them in our literature, letters, etc!.

thus you will learn why they are used to punctuate this poem!.
Www@QuestionHome@Com